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The Hawaii Ruckus was a series of events in the state of Hawaii in the 1980s, where unlicensed heroes ran amok in the state, their eventual outlawing, and the following actions of the state government to remove them by force.
History
Starting in the early 1980s, super powered beings who had practiced as super heroes either as a team or as individuals during the 1950s, 60s, and early 70s began to retire for various reasons. Most didn't particularly want to retire, but by this point they were working slower and slower in comparison to younger heroes and were looking for an easier workload that would allow for them to still do what they liked to do, and had done for all of their life. This desire, combined with wanting to actually see it as a retirement of sorts led to a number of heroes and former heroes moving to Hawaii. This was not an immediate problem. Despite the influx is powered individuals, and there being an immediate high concentration in the islands than elsewhere in the United States, most only worked as heroes part time, and handled limited work. This however did mean that overall, there were more heroes active than there should have been.
As the 1980s progressed, there were a number of issues that lead to superhero licensing organizations to be created. While these were private companies, they were usually back to some extent by state laws and regulations. The states that began doing this required anyone who operated as a hero within that state to be licensed to a licensing organization. Heroes would pay fees to these organizations, and these organizations would see that the heroes were insured and gave them access to expensive legal council. The heroes would only remain licensed so long as they followed the operational standards of the licensing organization, and those standards were largely spelled out by the state guidelines. The first few states to enact licensing rules were California, New York, Connecticut, and Michigan. Other states slowly followed suit, but it would take over a decade before the continental 48 all had similar laws.
As these laws were passed, especially in California and New York, it all of a sudden left a large number of "heroes" without a place to work, as the way they did things was very much not in following the guidelines. As they dispersed around the country, a number of them went to the warm and sunny Hawaii, figuring it would be a great place to live and work. Some were even encouraged by the heroes that had came there earlier to retire. Most of the heroes there were part time, so these full time heroes coming in were bound to be able to take up a ton of work and be fully competitive.
By 1986, a major situation was starting to develop in Hawaii as it now had far too many active "heroes." On top of that, those who had left the mainland due to the stricter guidelines began butting heads with some of the older part time heroes in Hawaii, who had a slightly tighter grasp on their morals, and with whom they were now competing for jobs with. This would lead to dangerous fights in the streets, as heroes fought eachother over who could help others.
Late in 1986, Hawaii announced it was going to start laying down regulations on heroes on the islands, by attempting to leave it up to a per county basis, like it does with its state police, feeling it was on each county to decide how to handle the growing situation, as it was different from island to island.
This did little but make some citizens be happy something was happening. However the next two years saw teams of "heroes" basically threatening county governments to allow them to continue to practice as they had been doing, that things were going to right themselves soon enough, once the older part time hero population fully retired. They were desperate, as slowly more and more of the country was becoming a place where they could no longer practice a profession they felt they were entitled to due to their powers. All while more and more of them came to Hawaii. At times, the incoming "heroes" were handling the issues left by the ones who arrived before them. It was a state of nearly pure infighting amongst those that considered themselves "heroes." A fair number of the older crowd were stepping out by this point, or trying to control the near lawlessness of the newer arrivals, but it didn't matter, as Hawaii was practically a wild west for super powered individuals who wanted to use their powers however they wanted. Over 300 civilian deaths between 1982 and 1988 in Hawaii are attributed to the infighting as well as the gross malpractice of the "heroes," many of whom were basically vigilantes who masquaraded as heroes.
In late 1988, the state government of Hawaii stepped back in and attempted to put down licensing regulations at a state level, however the now incredibly overcrowded "hero" population largely did not listen. This included the older "part-time" population. Those of them who were still active felt it was their duty to The problem had grown out of control, and they needed to take drastic action. Rather than risk the fallout that would come from asking the federal government for help, Hawaii opted for what many felt like was a "scorched earth" policy. The state government with little fanfare, and seemingly fully overnight, passed two major pieces of legislature. One was brand new and incredibly strict licensing guidelines for heroes, as well as allotting government funding to create the first state run licensing organization. It would be the only organization that could license heroes for the state of Hawaii. These new guidelines in addition to being stricter than nearly any other state guidelines, would also require one to live in Hawaii for over a decade before seeking licensing. The other piece, was an official order stating that anyone who had practiced as a hero in the state of Hawaii since 1980 was to hereby either surrender themselves to local police to have their situation assessed to see if they could return to full civilian life, no longer practicing as a hero, or otherwise, they were to leave the state. The following day, Hawaii's govenor at the time, John D. Waiheʻe III, announced these new laws, and stated that the laws allowed a grace period of four days. The state considered that they had incredible amounts of documents on anyone who had practiced as a "hero" on the islands, and that after those four days were up, the order was going to be backed by force. With this, he announced the arrival of what would be know as "Waiheʻe's Dozen," a hand selected group of heroes who were licensed in what were considered the states with bettter licensing programs at the time, who were hired to systematically remove those in violation of the new laws. At their lead was a young hero who came highly recommend by The Shield, known as Daredevil.
Most of those who followed the order and went to local stations were those who those former "part-timers," now largely wanting to just stay living in such a beautiful state. Many others felt that this was truly their last chance, that this was unjust, and that they should still be able to practice as a hero on the islands.
Once those four days were up, Waiheʻe's Dozen began to systematically search out those who had not turned themselves in. This would be a two month long process going through the islands until they had assertained that all those in violation of the order had been arrested or otherwise removed from the island. Once this main part of their job was done, the Dozen remained on Hawaii for over a year, afterwhich they recieved a special ceremony that made them the only "mainlanders" to be considered licensed in Hawaii. All members of the dozen accepted this honor, but chose to not stay and practice as licensed heroes in Hawaii unless they were called on again, largely as a show of good faith in their new licensing laws.
Naming
The popular term "Hawaii Ruckus" came about after a news team was allowed to follow the dozen on their "roundups." Televisions around the country saw the Dozen engage in multiple battles with groups of powered individuals in what were effectively powered street brawls. Most of the dozen seemed to focus on making sure civilians were safe, and that buildings, roads and other infrastructure were not damaged. At the lead of the actual fighting was Daredevil. The footage was impressive and spectacular for sure, especially considering seeing fights between super powered beings was generally rare outside of attending a SPSS Tournament. Once the Dozen had detained the team of individuals, Daredevil would often return to the camera crew, and apologize for the "wee bit of a ruckus back there." By the second night of similar footage airing on television, most stations were then refering to the whole situation as the "Hawaii Ruckus."